Growing better chefs at farm camp

Joan CarySpecial to the Tribune

Camp gives chefs hands-on harvest experience, new appreciation

From the crowing roosters to the pigs in the pen, Spence Farm at first glance might be mistaken as just another farm camp for city slickers. Barns, tents, chore schedules, grills, cots and coolers are ready for campers to spend two days in the country, 100 miles south of Chicago.

But then campers started unpacking their professional knife kits. One brought her family's Italian antipasto dish to share. And another took his roasted pork shoulder to the walk-in cooler.

Early in the morning the question had already been posed: What would they serve for lunch? Chicken and lentil chili, summer sausage, caprese salad?

Chef camp had begun.

Twice each summer, in June and in September, Kris, Marty and Will Travis take two days from their demanding work in the fields to give 12 chefs — many from Chicago — the opportunity to experience life on their Fairbury farm. Theirs isn't the typical farm, and these chefs know it. That's why they're here.

This 160-acre gem between Pontiac and Bloomington is known as the place where the Travises grow and harvest wild and weird produce, and sell 95 percent of it to Chicago restaurants (like the 600 squash blossoms Kris Travis picked and hand washed that very morning).

It is the spot where many respected chefs get their "stuff." Stuff like fava bean tops, and lamb's quarter, redbud blossoms, nettles and sweet cicely. And peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, turnips, heirloom corn, paw paws and more.

"It's one thing if you are coming from a city to get to spend two days on a farm," said Lee Wolen, chef de cuisine at The Lobby restaurant at the Peninsula Chicago, as he prepared for camp dinner this month. "But to see this? No one gets to do this, to see how this all comes about."

Will Travis, 22, does. He is the eighth generation in his family to work here on the farm bought by his ancestors in 1830 for $1.25 an acre. For many years the land was planted in corn and soybeans, but then about 10 years ago,Will's father, Marty, and stepmother, Kris, decided to try something different.

They harvested ramp, an early spring wild onion, and for a four- to five-week period in March and April sold 1,000 pounds of ramp each week to six acclaimed Chicago chefs: Rick Bayless, Jason Hammel, John Bubala, Bruce Sherman, Paul Kahan and Paul Virant.

Ramp led to questions like: "What else do you have?" remembers Marty Travis. "And we said, 'What else do you want?'"

The Travises don't harvest ramp anymore, but that experience opened the doors to a world of vegetables, chef friendships and chef requests. Now they deliver produce from their farm and about 22 others, to 50 to 60 Chicago restaurants 45 weeks a year. Their season extends from making maple syrup and starting seeds in February and March, to delivering flour, cornmeal and potatoes through mid-December.

On Spence Farm, they grow more than 15 varieties of tomatoes, including Jack Van Camp tomatoes named for chef Jared Van Camp's Irish grandfather, and four varieties of heirloom corn, including the ancient heirloom Iroquois White Corn.

June campers experience the early harvest, including more wild crops like morels, said Marty Travis. The September group tastes more tomatoes and peppers. Oftentimes two Kendall College students are included among the chef campers.

Chef camp, according to Marty Travis, "is an opportunity for chefs to learn the nitty-gritty. For them to see where all that food actually comes from, what it takes to physically and financially produce it, and to take to heart the whole concept of locally grown and sustainable agriculture."

The Travis family farm is the site of the camp, which is run by the Spence Farm Foundation, a nonprofit education organization designed to support small scale sustainable farming and to educate the next generation of farmers. It was started by the Travises in 2005, said executive director Carolynne Saffer, and offers six programs including this culinary arts camp.

Carl Shelton, chef de cuisine at Boka restaurant in Lincoln Park, attended the June camp and invited Wolen to take his seat in the latest camp. Each participating chef has the opportunity to refer a chef for the next one.

"I think every chef should get the opportunity to check it out, especially the sous-chefs and the chefs de cuisine because they are the future of Chicago restaurants," said Shelton.

"What's unique about Marty and the other farmers in the foundation is that when you talk to them, they are the people putting the seeds into the ground, picking the produce and delivering it," he said. "Marty knows the specifics of what we want, why we want it, and exactly what he has to offer. "

The chefs began their first day with a walking tour of the fields where the small but tasty Sun Sugar tomatoes had "gone berserk," as Marty Travis put it, and where the Blue Hopi corn is ready for harvest. With every sunrise, something is ready to be picked.

Under a tent to escape unseasonal heat, they heard Donna OShaughnessy and Keith Parrish from South Pork Ranch, a certified organic farm near Chatsworth, explain the jargon used on meat labels. And they used Bloomington soil consultant Bob Boehle's refractometers to do a Brix test on vegetable juices, taste testing to confirm the sweetness.

They also piled in vans to visit neighboring farms like Kilgus Farmstead dairy where the Kilgus family sells nonhomogenized milk bottled on site, and to the backyard garden of teenager Derek Stoller, who grows tomatoes for Frontera Grill.

One thread ran through conversations and presentations: Know your farmer. Know what "organic" means to that farmer. Ask questions. Although they use organic methods and do not use any chemicals at Spence Farm, they are not certified organic, said Kris Travis.

This was the fifth chef camp, now held twice yearly, at Spence Farm. The camp was based on an idea that originated from a conversation with one of their loyal customers, chef-owner Stephanie Izard from Girl & The Goat.

"One thing camp does is it helps them realize that just because it's warm out doesn't mean I can get tomatoes and green beans in May," said Marty Travis. "It's hugely helpful for them to understand what it takes to get product to them."

Throughout the day, campers had the chance to taste test milk, steak, eggs, tomatoes and honey, and took to the field to find the bee yard with beekeeper and wildlife biologist Darryl Coates from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Some had never seen beehives before, but they have used gallons of honey in their cooking.

Anderson Hardy, sous-chef at Wood restaurant, was referred to camp by his boss.

"There's no way he could say no to an experience like this," Hardy said when asked how he got the days off from a busy schedule. "It's an opportunity you can't pass up."

The lesson in butchering (three rabbits and two chickens), although not comfortable for everyone, was a particularly interesting and valuable one, remembers June camper Nicole Pederson, executive chef at Found Kitchen & Social House in Evanston.

"As chefs in the city, you never get to see it (butchering), and you never get to do it," she said. "I think it's important to understand it, to see the value in the circle of life."

Late in the afternoon on the first day, campers worked in teams, one team accompanying Will Travis to the barn to milk their Dexter cow, Surprise, and the other going out to water and move the pens for the grass-fed American Guinea hogs and their piglets. Not completely spent, they then volunteered to help Marty Travis harvest his Galapagos Island tomatoes and the prolific Sun Sugars that would go in quart boxes — 80 quarts a week — to chef Jonathan Goldsmith at Spacca Napoli Pizzeria.

With the hot sun of late day on their backs, the chefs got just an appetizer-size portion of the work that the Travis family and other farm families perform every day to keep their products on the market.

"I have so much more respect after seeing all of the work that goes into this," said Balena baker Leonardo Hernandez. "And it's just the three of them. It sounds super easy. But it's super hard."

Chefs attend the camp for free but are asked to "pay it forward," said Marty Travis. Each is asked to somehow help the foundation in educating farmers and chefs about small-scale sustainable farming.

Some will revisit the farm to assist with other classes. Others get involved in foundation projects like Harvest Feast Chicago on Nov. 17 at Kendall College, featuring Chicago chefs (former campers), and a silent auction. And some find their own way to contribute. Chef Chris Pandel from Balena and The Bristol recently competed in a cook-off and donated his $3,000 winnings to the foundation, according to Marty Travis.

Jon DuBois, chef de cuisine at Green Zebra, paused as he packed to go home. "I feel like now I understand so much more. Why things might come in a little dirty sometimes. Why there is a lot of something one week and a lot of something else the next week. To see all those mitigating factors — weather, bugs, soil, time," he said. "Most of us spend so much time locked into what we do that we don't see beyond it. I couldn't imagine this being more worth it. "